Advent of 7-on-7 has increased Texas QBs drafted

Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, right, and Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012. 7-on-7 camps have helped Texas quarterbacks shine in the national spotlight. Here's a look at quarterbacks from Texas high schools who have been drafted since 1990. The most in a given year is four (2009 and 2011), while five times no one was selected:

Photo By Paul Sakuma

Statford High graduate Andrew Luck likely will be the No. 1 pick this year.

Photo By Tony Gutierrez

Copperas Cove graduate Robert Griffin III likely will be drafted right behind Luck.

"How many times you see a guy out there in the front yard with his buddies in the summer running the triple option? You don't," said Cypress Creek coach Greg McCaig, who is in his ninth year with the Cougars and also on the state's 7-on-7 Association board of directors. "Who wants to sit there and run the veer?"

The 7-on-7 competition, which took off in Texas in the late 1990s and now includes a state championship with two separate divisions, is one of the biggest factors to Texas essentially becoming a quarterback factory.

That point likely will be driven home even more April 26 - the first day of the NFL draft.

Barring any surprises, the first two picks in the draft will be quarterbacks from Texas. Stanford's Andrew Luck, who starred at Stratford, is expected to be the No. 1 pick. Baylor's Robert Griffin III (Copperas Cove) is likely to follow or perhaps even leapfrog Luck.

Texas A&M's Ryan Tannehill (Big Spring) could make it three top-10 picks.

"When I first started coaching, if you threw 30 times in a game it's because you knew you couldn't run it, and it was all out of desperation and hoping you'd get lucky," said longtime coach Sonny Detmer, whose son Ty won the Heisman Trophy in 1990, the last Texas high school product to win the coveted award until Griffin beat out Luck in December.

"We're always had good running backs, but I'm really proud to be a Texas coach because of how good the Texas kids are doing at quarterback."

If four are picked, it will match last season and 2009's total. Two (Colt McCoy and John Skelton) were picked in 2010.

Lean times pre-7-on-7

That wasn't always the case in a state that emphasized the running game for years. From 1990-2008, multiple Texas quarterbacks were drafted just five times.

Five is also the number of drafts in which a Texas quarterback was not picked at all. Four of those drafts came before the first 7-on-7 state tournament (1998), with the fifth in 2005.

"The development of the quarterback in Texas has 100 percent to do with the world of 7-on-7 football," said Matt Malatesta of VYPE Magazine and Rivals.com. "These kids get so many more reps, and it changed everything."

The countless throws are beneficial because they're coming against competition. Quarterbacks and receivers build chemistry that can carry over into the season.

But for quarterbacks, 7-on-7 trains them mentally. Most take on the coaching responsibilities for their teams, calling their own plays as well as reading defenses.

"That quarterback has to have that knowledge of a coach on the field," said Copperas Cove coach Jack Welch, who led his team to two Class 4A Division I title games with Griffin at quarterback. "So you can't take a young man that struggles academically and put him out there running these high-powered offenses going as fast as they go."

Luck was Stratford's valedictorian and returned to Stanford this season to finish his degree in architectural design. Griffin earned his undergraduate degree in just three years and entertained going to law school during the fall.

End result is dramatic

Spread offenses evolved and quarterbacks continued to get better.

And in just a short window of time, quarterbacks have not only succeeded at the college level but become sought-after NFL prospects.

In 2006, Vince Young (Madison) became the state's first quarterback picked in the first round since 1992. Matthew Stafford (Dallas Highland Park) went No. 1 overall three years later.

"We are living proof of the more reps and the more emphasis you put on something, the better you get," McCaig said. "You take the quality athletes we have, like these quarterbacks are, and the end result is you're going to filter up some really, really talented kids. And certainly we can't claim credit for all the success that these guys have had.

"Andrew Luck would be a great player regardless. Robert Griffin was just a phenomenal athlete and would be a great player regardless. But I would imagine they certainly reaped the benefits of extra opportunities."